WASHINGTON -- The Independent Gay Forum, a new association of
writers and thinkers seeking to broaden the debate about
homosexuality by giving voice to centrist, conservative and
libertarian ideas, has unveiled its new website at
http://www.indegayforum.org.

"This new site brings together some of the most challenging and
articulate voices in gay and lesbian America -- representing
viewpoints that too often go unheard or underrepresented," said
Jonathan Rauch, an openly gay writer who serves as the IGF's vice
president. "We think a lot of gays and lesbians who don't buy into
the dogmas of either the left or the right will find a worldview
they can relate to. We're trying to create a smart, safe home for
them."

The site -- recently referenced in the Wall Street Journal's
"Washington Wire" column (July 16) and a Slate Magazine debate on
homosexuality ("Book Club," June 30) -- includes published articles
by a rich variety of gay writers and thinkers. Among the subjects
discussed are guns, anti-discrimination laws, marriage, religion,
capitalism, books and culture. New articles are posted regularly,
and the IGF offers a newsletter and can make its authors available
for speeches and public engagements.

"This site is a discussion, not an orthodoxy," said Paul
Varnell, a Windy City Times columnist who edits the site. "Above
all, we look for essays and ideas of absolutely top quality -- the
best writing and thinking out there.

"Our writers all support full legal equality and social respect
for gays and lesbians, and they also embrace the American
traditions of market economics, unfettered debate and limited
government. Within those boundaries, though, there's a lot of
disagreement. What unites us is the feeling that the old debate
between gay leftists and anti-gay rightists is exhausted. We think
the ideas we're exploring will be the basis for the next stage of
the debate."

Richard E. Sincere, Jr., and Rob Blanchard
argue that "hate-crime laws" are not only ineffective, but also
distract gays from more pressing issues of equal rights.

Miller and Jonathan Rauch discuss how
carrying concealed weapons can be part of the solution to
gay-bashing -- even though, writes Miller, "The fact that gay
people could possibly be on the same side of an issue as the
National Rifle Association" breaks precedent.

Norah Vincent, exploring how lesbians may
create "confining roles for themselves in the name of misguided
community membership," argues that individualism and
self-acceptance are the only ways to obtain truly equal rights and
equal treatment.

Walter Olson dismantles misguided theocrats
-- including "Christian Reconstructionists" who advocate death for
homosexuals and pseudo-researchers whose claims about gay men's
life expectancy are based on startlingly shoddy methods.

Paul Varnell, looking beyond this year's 30th
anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York, notes that gay
activism didn't begin with Stonewall and wouldn't have ended
without it: "There was a small but rapidly growing gay movement
that helped ensure the continued growth of activism in the 1970s
even had Stonewall not happened."

The IGF was chartered in 1999 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
organization.

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IGF CultureWatch is a blog that originated with the Independent Gay Forum, a group of writers and activists who focused on advancing gay and lesbian legal equality and social inclusion beyond ideological rigidity and leftwing orthodoxy. more